Chapter 4
“Ugh! It got all over my dress!”
Cherry jumped back, staring at the stains on her outfit like I’d just thrown actual garbage on her.
Her dramatic shriek had everyone rubbernecking.[]
Dylan jogged over, completely ignoring me while giving Cherry this concerned look.
“What happened?”]
“She was shoving that huge cooler around and totally slammed into me.”
Only then did Dylan bother to look at me, his expression cold and judgmental.]
Even his voice was ice–cold:]
“You think this is the place to be hawking your shit?“[]
I might suck at arguing, but I wasn’t about to take the blame for something I didn’t do:
“She’s the one who ran into me. She should apologize and pay for my damages.“]
I knew damn well Dylan had seen exactly what happened.]
But even seeing it with his own eyes, he still blained me first.[]
My throat started burning, and my eyes felt hot and swollen
I raised my voice: “Apologize!”
Dylan stared at my reddening eyes and went quiet for a couple seconds.
Back when Dylan was in my life, I’d been so happy that nothing seemed impossible–nothing worth crying over.[]
Whether customers were being assholes or I was dead on my feet from exhaustion, I’d just smile through it without shedding a
tear.
Even the day we broke up, I never let him see me get emotional.[]
Right now, though, he looked genuinely freaked out.]
He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but Cherry cut him off.]
She lifted her chin like some prissy peacock and sneered:]
“Are you literally insane? Even if I did wreck your little setup on purpose, I wouldn’t apologize to ANYONE.“)]
And Dylan–Mr. Moral High Ground who used to lecture me about doing the right thing–suddenly only gave a shit about
princess’s version of right and wrong. He hesitated for like
for like two second
seconds, then shoved some bills at me
“She’s been spoiled rotten since day one. You’re not getting an apology, but this should cover whatever you lost.”
It was actually pretty decent cash–would’ve kept us fed for weeks back when we were scraping by.
I stared down at the total shitshow on the ground, completely speechless.
Lucas walked over, bent down to pick up the cooler, and called out to me:[]
“Come on, let’s go prep drinks for the second half.”
He stepped closer, blocking all the judgmental stares from the bleachers.
I was pretty bummed that whole day–like a wilted plant or something, just dragging my feet the entire walk back.
Until Lucas said:[]
“I sold out completely.“[]
That got my head up real quick, and suddenly I had my energy back.
But since I was soaked and sticky, Lucas wouldn’t let me go back out for the second half. He grabbed the drinks and made trip after trip by himself.
Every single time, he came back empty–handed–sold everything.]
Not only that, but way more girls started showing up at the shop to buy bubble tea.
They’d all sneak glances at Lucas and turn red as tomatoes.[]
That’s when I realized Lucas had taken off his mask–and damn, the guy was seriously good–looking.
